By Staff
April 29th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
Mayor Meed Ward at an event accepting new buses.
Burlington Transit is looking at a fare-free transit service for Burlington. They are studying:
- community benefits,
- community risks,
- community impacts and
- the fiscal sustainability
What do you think of a fare-free Burlington transit service? Please share your thoughts on this program by taking the survey by September 15th.
The service could be for everyone who rides Burlington Transit.
Background
In 2023, Burlington City Council directed Burlington Transit staff to look into offering free transit for all riders. Staff will report back to Burlington City Council by the end of 2024. Right now, seniors and children ride for free all the time and youth can ride for free on evenings and weekends. All other riders pay to take the bus.
What is missing from the survey is collecting data on where people live (first three digits of a postal code would not infringe on personal privacy), age of the people responding as well as gender.
Fair questions: Can the city afford this? Is public transit the city’s response to traffic grid lock? Or is this a “nice to have” project?
Why not request the Provincial Government to reinstate the $120 license plate fee per car (that was removed a few years ago without any consultation from the public and which severely depleted revenue to support public services to a tune of a billion dollars a year), and use those funds to provide affordable/free public transit– both in Burlington and using the GO system.
Further to my earlier comments here are some perceived barriers to bus usage most of which are Burlington specific:
1 Having taken the COB survey, it misses the mark on getting useful feedback.
2 Presto, getting a card, enrolling, loading funds, checking balances.
3 Burlington roadway layout not being a true grid.
4 As someone who qualifies for free rides I value my time and for me to use the bus for groceries, or to travel to the far reaches of the city taking the bus is a non starter
5 The advent of e-scooters and e-bikes is the next best best option 8 months of the year.
6 The GO/BT app/web presence is/are d.o.a
On a positive note I have used BT and the GO bus and train to get to Pearson or Toronto and once in a blue moon to get to a business close to the main line and not longer than a 15 minute ride. I highly recommend the service to Pearson and give it a 10 out of 10.
P.S. To my previous comment: For those who use Burlington Transit, it needs to be “User Pays”.
We do not need all of these empty buses running around town. Why are we paying all of this money for a ridership of 3%. Plus new buses and salaries for drivers etc.. There has to be a better way. How about smaller buses and more strategic routes for the passengers that need and want to use this service. Other cities have implemented these programs and they have worked out very well and at a much lower cost.
It’s time for our Burlington Mayor and City Council to think outside the box and come up with some innovated ideas and stop burdening the Property Tax Payers with everything. The COB have lots of highly paid staff who could research this and come up with a more cost effective alternative to what we presently have in place.
Cant wait to see who on council votes for this. Recorded vote please. This may be the end for some members. The survey as expected is flawed.
Hi Joe,
All of the City Surveys are flawed!! Even if you try to strategically answer their questions in the negative. This needs to stop!! I will also be watching closely to see which members of Council vote in favour of this!!
There is no such thing as a free lunch!
Free Transit will not solve the problem of low ridership. It will however, take away 6 million dollars of revenue. Revenue that could improve the system.
Residents do not look to public transit in Burlington unless they have to because of the lack of direct transportation routes. There can be multiple bus changes to reach their destination.
Some buses run every 15 minutes, some 20 or 30 minutes ( if they are on time). Weekend schedules differ and these weekend schedules are often in place for long weekends and holidays.
Presently it can take more than double and sometimes triple the time it would take to get to an appointment by car.
Sounds like a band-aid solution instead of putting more funds into making a more reliable and useable transit system.
Nothing is free. Our property taxes will need to fund it. How would we leverage a scenario of getting a larger transit network. Our property taxes would exponentially soar. 2025 already looks bad when you read the tea leaves. If she can can promise a “Burlington tax” increase under 3% without dipping her toes into reserves then do it otherwise I am not interested.
What is the problem that this solution is designed to fix?
Agree. Almost all people who need this for financial or physical reasons already ride free. The problem is not enough routes. Maybe subsidize free Uber for all?